Roberto Merhi secured provisional pole position during a wet Macau Grand Prix qualifying on Thursday, but his session ended in disaster when he crashed into the back of another car.
Prema's Spaniard was in brilliant form around the Guia circuit, setting a best lap that was 1.675sec quicker than nearest rival Marco Wittmann (Signature). But shortly after he put in his best lap, Merhi failed to slow in time at Lisboa and smashed into the back of Mucke driver Felix Rosenqvist, with the pair's badly damaged cars skidding down the escape road.
Wittmann did not have much better luck as, in an attempt to beat Merhi's time when the session resumed after the crash, he too went off at Lisboa and damaged the front left of his car.
Felipe Nasr ended the day third fastest in the top Carlin car, ahead of Daniel Juncadella (Prema) and Alexander Sims (TOM'S).
Valtteri Bottas managed to make it to the Macau track in time following his journey from the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 test – despite missing a flight by a couple of minutes and suffering a delay on a ferry. He was 27th overall for Double R.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Roberto Merhi Prema Dallara-Merc 2m28.860s
2. Marco Wittmann Signature Dallara-VW 2m30.535s + 1.675s
3. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m30.639s + 1.779s
4. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Merc 2m30.867s + 2.007s
5. Alexander Sims TOM'S Dallara-Toyota 2m31.306s + 2.446s
6. Yuhi Sekiguchi Mucke Dallara-Merc 2m31.634s + 2.774s
7. Hannes van Asseldonk Hitech Dallara-VW 2m31.891s + 3.031s
8. Antonio Felix da Costa Hitech Dallara-VW 2m31.901s + 3.041s
9. William Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m32.295s + 3.435s
10. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 2m32.457s + 3.597s
11. Lucas Foresti Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m32.551s + 3.691s
12. Kimiya Sato Motopark Dallara-VW 2m32.891s + 4.031s
13. Richie Stanaway Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 2m32.996s + 4.136s
14. Kevin Magnussen Carlin Dallara-VW 2m33.281s + 4.421s
15. Daniel Abt Signature Dallara-VW 2m33.428s + 4.568s
16. Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 2m33.588s + 4.728s
17. Marko Asmer Double R Dallara-Merc 2m33.866s + 5.006s
18. Laurens Vanthoor Signature Dallara-VW 2m33.881s + 5.021s
19. Jimmy Eriksson Motopark Dallara-VW 2m34.034s + 5.174s
20. Adderly Fong Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m34.273s + 5.413s
21. Carlos Munoz Signature Dallara-VW 2m34.278s + 5.418s
22. Carlos Huertas Carlin Dallara-VW 2m34.675s + 5.815s
23. Hideki Yamauchi Toda Dallara-ondaH 2m34.725s + 5.865s
24. Carlos Sainz Jr Signature Dallara-VW 2m34.744s + 5.884s
25. Hywel Lloyd Sino Vision Dallara-Merc 2m34.750s + 5.890s
26. Mitch Evans Double R Dallara-Merc 2m35.133s + 6.273s
27. Valtteri Bottas Double R Dallara-Merc 2m35.877s + 7.017s
28. Pietro Fantin Hitech Dallara-VW 2m36.057s + 7.197s
29. Richard Bradley TOM'S Dallara-Toyota 2m36.823s + 7.963s
30. Hironobu Yasuda Three Bond Dallara-Nissan 2m42.441s + 13.581s